These include Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) — the biggest tech IPO since Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) — and Hilton Worldwide (NYSE:HLT), the biggest IPO ever for a hotel company and the second largest of 2013.

The largest IPO of the year was Plains GP Holdings (NYSE:PAGP), which raised $2.8 billion.

The year also saw six stocks jump more than 100% on their first day of trading, as many as the prior seven years combined. The top first-day performer was Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM), up 123% on day one.

Initial public offerings are an integral part of U.S economic growth and employment. Whether the IPO market will continue to boom, as always, depends on economic growth and the performance of equity markets.

"If the stock markets stay healthy I expect at least as many IPOs in 2014 as last year," said Jay Ritter, Cordell Professor of Finance at University of Florida, who closely tracks the IPO field.

Waiting At The Gate

Currently 38 companies are registered to go public and seek to raise $6.5 billion, according to market intelligence firm Ipreo.

The IPO pipeline is likely much larger, though. A provision of the Jobs Act of 2012 allows companies with sales of less than $1 billion to begin the IPO registration process while keeping it confidential until about a month before the IPO actually launches.

The biggest IPO on the horizon is China e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, with its IPO likely to exceed the Facebook blockbuster in May 2012 that raised $16 billion.

This year apparently won't see the recently planned IPO of car manufacturer Chrysler Group that was expected to exceed $10 billion. Chrysler's IPO may have died on Jan. 1 when Fiat disclosed that it would buy the 41.5% of Chrysler shares owned by a United Auto Workers trust, giving Fiat 100% ownership.

But a large number of fast-growing technology firms are expected to launch.

"2014 looks to be a strong year for tech IPOs," said Anand Sanwal, CEO of research firm CB Insights. "There seems to be momentum on multiple fronts."

In a recent report, CB Insights counted 590 investor-backed private technology companies in the U.S. with valuations, "real or rumored," of more than $100 million, up from 472 a year ago.

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